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tv   [untitled]    December 4, 2012 11:30pm-12:00am PST

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whatever you want to call it, i think there are different perspectives on this. what i will say(#( áb is that t know that any one side here has a monopoly on caring for the maintenance and the reliability of the system. i think all of us believe that that's a priority, and that's something that we should do. but the reason why the amendments are made, supervisor wiener, simply because there are those of us who believe as a principle, that in reality in fact being for making the system accessible touocu income youth is not exclusive -- mutually exclusive from trying to maintain the system. and that i think goes to the very heart of this point that to the extent that you have issues with what muni is doing or not doing with some things, that
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predicating the resolution of those issues solely or primarily on whether or not to put this that's the right way to frame this. the last thing that i would say is, as you correctly noted, the board of supervisors has acted before on this. i don't know that there has been any new information or evidence that's been presented here about the pros and cons of this system. the fact is that the folks who have raised concerns about the free muni for youth for low income youth pilot have consistently been against that. and i respect that. but there is nothing new that they're saying in terms, respectjjp%9 terms of their opposition. so the amendments that are before you reflect the fact that this board of supervisors has been on record before, and we believe should be on record
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again, asking that we commit to making this pilot a reality on the premise that working on this pilot that makes muni accessible does not preclude maintaining the system and if so it is in that spirit that this amendment is offered and i hope that my colleagues support the amendments. thank you. >> president chiu: colleagues, unless there's additional discussion let's take a roll call vote on supervisor campos' motion to amend. madam clerk. >> clerk calvillo: supervisor avalos, aye. supervisor campos, aye. president chiu, aye. supervisor chu, no. supervisor cohen, aye. supervisor elsbernd, no. supervisor farrell, no. supervisor kim, aye. supervisor mar, aye. supervisor olague, aye. supervisor wiener, no. there are seven ayes and four
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nos. >> president chiu: the motion passes. supervisor wiener. >> supervisor wiener: eye will be -- since this is no longer the resolution that i actually authored and said the opposite of the resolution that i authored, i will be voting against thisv #çt resolution. >> president chiu: roll call vote on the underlying resolution as amended. >> clerk calvillo: on item 38 as amended, supervisor avalos, aye. supervisor campos, aye. president chiu, aye. supervisor chu, no. supervisor cohen, aye. supervisor elsbernd, no. supervisor farrell, no. supervisor kim, aye. supervisor mar, aye. supervisor olague, aye. supervisor wiener, no. there are seven ayes and four nos. >> president chiu: the resolution is adopted as amended. colleagues, we already adopted item 39. why don't we now go to item 40. >> clerk calvillo: item 40 was
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considered by the land use and economic development committee at a regular meeting on november 291 -- 19 forwarded to the board to sus £yellow pages pilot program. >> president chiu: supervisor elsbernd. >> supervisor elsbernd: could i please be added as a cosponsor to this item. >> president chiu: supervisor elsbernd i appreciate the cosponsorship. roll call vote. >> clerk calvillo: on item 40, supervisor avalos, aye. supervisor campos, aye. president chiu,qñp!ss aye. supervisor chu,j- bñ aye. supervisor cohen, aye. supervisor9 0p&s elsbernd, aye. supervisor farrell, aye. supervisor kim, aye. supervisor mar, aye. supervisor olague, absent. supervisor wiener, aye. there are 10 ayes. >> president chiu: the ordinance is passed on first
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reading. supervisor olague, did she just step out? >> the clerk: she is not on the floor, mr. president. >> president chiu: at this time, why don't we go to roll call. >> clerk calvillo: supervisor avalos, you're first on roll call for introductions. >> supervisor avalos: thank you. a couple of items, i have imperative item that is mostly commendatory. declaring november 25, 2012, international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls. this is a resolution that we do year after year. last year i done it, and had honored one of the sponsors of the resolution, who does work in the community around violence prevention. she was having an event this november 24, this coming saturday at dance mission.
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called the -- that will be at 7:00 and it will be a cultural event, celebrating the day of international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls. so we have that item proclamation for that day for the imperative calendar. my other item is an in memorium for alex exclamaddo who passed away at the age of 83 years old. he has important history here in san francisco. he was the founder and former publisher editor of the san francisco" nx based philippe news. he and the philippine news have played a major role in the growing visibility and activism an outspoken critic of the late president marcos and despite bribes from the
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administration he continued to fiercely expose the human rights violations of the dictator. seven kids in the sunset and produced the philippine news from their headquarters south of market to become the most read filipino newspaper in the united states with circulation of 120,000. he's founding chairperson of national federation of philippine american association, been a voice for immigrants rights, farm workers struggle and -- equity for over five decades. last month he received a lifetime achievement award from the filipino-american press club. he is survived by his wife and seven kids. >> clerk calvillo: thank you, supervisor avalos. supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you. i first wanted to ask if we could -- meeting in memorium for
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fay bingham. she passed away november 2, 2012 at the age of 91. she was born in harrison, southh dakota. she moved to san francisco and resided in richmond for at least -- for the last 56 years. she was a long time member of local 2, the hotel and restaurant workers union and worked at the fairmont hotel, and also at the st. francis hotel and ended her career at the bakery. she is preceded in death by her husband who served three years in the coast guard and 30 in the navy. fay will be missed by her two sisters in michigan plus many her neez live niece lives in --
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memorial services were held on november 17. ms. bingham will be greatly missed. thank you to debby, from human services network for alerting us to the passing of ms. bingham. also i have a couple of other wanted to say that coming up on the imperative agenda is a resolution in support of small business saturday which is the saturday two days after thanksgiving. and the resolution -- the imperative agenda resolution declares november 24, 2012 the citizen after thanksgiving holiday as small business holiday to celebrate increasing awareness of locally owned small business in san francisco. small businesses have less than 100 employees represent 98% of employ approximately 50% of employees in the private sector. small businesses also contribute to 52% of the total sales of
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taxes paid by businesses in the city. it's also important to note for every $100 spent locally owned independent businesses generate $68 iní%( z5 local economic act, and that compares to only $43 by the national chains or chain stores. joining the small business commission, office of small business, and our local partners, women impacting public policy, the san francisco chamber of commerce and sf travel, i wanted to urge everyone to shop locally during this holiday season. and we wish everyone a great and your holiday with your family friends and loved ones. i also wanted to invite people out on thursday, december 6, that's thursday, december 6, in the evening for our annual clementine, join the merchants from the green apple bookstore to park lifee÷jc- gallery and fy notions small businesses like
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foggy notion as we celebrate the holidays with our great clement street businesses. thank you. >> clerk calvillo: thank you. president chiu. >> president chiu: first of all i'd like to adjourn today's meeting in recognition of the passing of ellen farlly, those of us who lied tock on klw local radio. he became a regular host after joining the station as a volunteer almost three decades ago. as an arts -- he was vocal in support of the arts. he was a strong supporter of the san francisco symphony and american conservatory theater upon he is described as a radio legend with a lot of passion and he will be dearly missed by many in the bay area. colleagues i have an item to announce a pilot program in district 3. as you will remember in this year's budget each district was allocated $100,000 in discretionary funding to be
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decided by a district supervisor for one-time expenditures that don't constitute ongoing neighborly costs. as i thought about how these funds should be used in my district i was intrigued by a model of -- participatory budgeting. participatory budget is a civic engagement proddle that involv involves -- making decision on fund. after being started in the city of porto al egg gray in brazil the process has beenx$jpm adopy 1500 cities and municipalities worldwide including by several municipal awards in chicago and new york. today i'm launching a participatory budgeting pilot program to give residents the power to decide how to use this discretionary funding. my office will be partnering with the controller's office, and the right to the city alliance to implement a four month process to engage
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residents, neighborhood groups and other community stakeholders in dialogue and to vote on proposed projects. i'm interested in bringing participatory budgeting to san francisco because increased civic participation will help make our city -- allow our city to make better investments in our neighborhoods and empower residents to get involved in our democratic process. colleagues if you haven't get figured out how to spend your discretionary funds i invite you to join us. i look forward to working with our partners and the public to create a vibrant and effective budgeting process. the last item i want to mention is a resolution that i will be cosponsoring with supervisor farrell, urging the national park service to abandon plans to locate the alcatraz ferry service at fort mason pier and move it out of my district in fisherman's wharf. supervisor farrell will speak more broadly about this but at this time over 1.4 million people visit alcatraz island from the existing ferry site in fisherman's wharf in my district
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which is a commercial district that absorbs close to most of the 16 million tourists that visit san francisco. contrast that with the residential neighborhood of the marina to add 5,000 visitors a day or 35,000 visitors a week will more than double that residential neighborhood and create impact on traffic. i hope you will join us on this resolution. the rest i will submit. >> clerk calvillo: thank you. supervisorn%(olague. >> supervisor olague: are we going back to the -- >> president chiu: roll call. >> supervisor olague: i will submit. >> clerk calvillo: supervisor elsbernd. supervisor campos. >> supervisor campos: thank it is with a great deal of sadness that i do an in memorium or howard l. wallace and ask that we adjourn the meeting in his name. and i know that supervisor
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avalos and president chiu wanted supervisor olague, and it might be appropriate to do it on behalf of the board, the entire board. but howard wallace was simply an institution in san francisco, the labor community but also the lgbt community and so many communities that have been fighting for social justice. it is true that howard's sister's brothers in the queer labor and elder human rights movements had the sad duty to report his death on wednesday, november 14 at the beautiful -- vista manner in san francisco. he was a veteran of social movement since his high school years in denver, colorado, where -- when he became an activist. he was born on august 29, 1936
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worcester, massachusetts and then to denver where howard spent most of his upbringing. as he talked about his sexual orientation and the fact that he was gay, youx:jr,i know, he sais aware being gay in the second grade. it gave me a strong empathy with other underdogs that stuck with me all of my life. howard was actually a junior in high school when he joined the local chapters of the naacp and he diagram onstraitd -- demonstrated leadership skills, managing the campaign of the first african-american candidate for the denver school board in 1955, working for the successful passage of colorado's fair employment law land serving on naacp denver and colorado boards.
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in the mid-50's his father threatened to cut off his college tuition if he did not end his political involvement. as howard remembered it my dad put a couple of checks on the dining room table. the checks for the next year's tuition and said get out of activism and you can have those checks. and this is what howard did. i tore them up in his face, and that was the end of my college education, and it was at that time that howard became a labor activist. howard moved to san francisco in 1967, with his lover, roger. he continued to work in the antiwar movement as a organizer in opposition to the vietnam war and staff organizer for the national peace coalition. his efforts and those of other progressive activists to bring into the movement -- to bring labor into the movement were very successful when the northern california labor councils were the first to actually oppose the vietnam war.
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with the rise of an organized movement in the gay community in the early 1970's, howard founded the bay area gay liberation inkn 1975, which was to advance lgbt rights here in san francisco. the organization's life was actions for lgbt rights and dramatically increased the san francisco. during that period he formed the committee to defend gays in the military. this was back in the mid-1970's. and he began his work on the boycott in 1975. of course those of us who know a little bit about harvey milk know a little bit about his involvement in that boycott. as howard explains it, they came to harvey milk and howard and asked for their support for this strike and boycott and both harvey and howard endorsed it, which was really key to making
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the boycott successful because howard, working with harvey milk, used their influence with bartenders and bar owners in the make the boycott successful and it was really the first time where you had that very powerful pairing of the labor movement with the lgbt community, and that has become very powerful. howard was on the staff of seiu local 50, and as an organizer and community representative wa one of the first in the country to unite lgbt and labor struggles and educate both movements about the other. he retired in 2001 but he remained active until the very end of his life. and one of howard's greatest achievements was actually the formation[jdf of an organizatn that united both lgbt and labor movements he founded gay and lesbian labor alliance with
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international secretary treasurer of the office and travel)!:::op employees union, y wolfer in the mid-1980's. that evolved into pride at work, an lgbt labor associated affiliated with afl-cio and howard served as vice president until before his death. howard is preceded in death by his parents and his older brother john of denver. he is survived by his sister barbara, nieces linda, gwen, the social movements that he led and those that continue to howard was that unique individual that remained true to his beliefs throughout his life. and i think that those of us who know him can fairly say that he certainly made the world ah nj better place, and the world was
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extremely lucky that he was a part of it. and for those of us who had the opportunity to have him in our lives, we are eternally grateful. there will be(n% ]$÷ a memorian january 6 at iowu local 34 next to the giants ballpark from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. and we will have figures like dolores huerta and others who will be there to honor howard's life. its is with great sadness we announce his passing and respectfully ask that we adjourn today's meeting in howard wallace's memory. thank you, howard. may you rest in peace. >> clerk calvillo: thank you, supervisor campos. supervisor farrell. >> supervisor farrell: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i have two items today. the first is a resolution that i'm introducing along with president chiu and i want to thank him for his cosponsorship urging the national park service to cease efforts to locate the
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alcatraz ferry service at fort on workingo'ég8çu)u$ the port to confine continued service at the port of san francisco. as a bit of background on june 2012 of this past year mps began pjpublic scoping process establish a long term ferry service between san francisco waterfront and alcatraz island. they're also evaluating possible fer y service to sauc sausalitod are looking at three sites at the port of san francisco. piers 31 1/2ened have operated on the port of san francisco property for the past few decades. currently over 1.4 million people visit alcatraz island each year from their existing site at fisherman's wharf. fisherman's wharf is a bustling commercial district with restaurants, gift shops, over 3,000 hotel rooms and tourist attractions well served by public transportation. contrast that to fort mason and
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the marina au>%( f predominanty residential neighborhood that i represent with a population of 23,000 residents. 23,000 residents. mps is looking at-0 wharf. the fort mason location would require shuttle buses to take people from jones street to fort mason, which will increase large vehicle traffic on street already impacted with the golden gate transit, sightseeing buses and public buses. one of the city's most popular tourist destinations. most importantly, adding the potential of 5,000 visitors per day to the marina district or population this neighborhood,7jp%[ and ce adverse impacts on parking and traffic in an already very congested area. drastically altering a residential neighborhood and the businesses already established at fort mason is bold
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considering the fort mason merchants group do not believe it is a feasible alternative and voted against it. marina green is in capacity due to children's athletic leagues and the different experiences1' tourists have coming to the marina green through the rec and park department. this resolution urgency national park service to abandon plans tu relocate the alcatraz to the fort mason and continue their service at our port. i've already met with mps to encourage them to work with the port and look forward to them continuing that effort. second today i'm introducing legislation in support of our lgbt community that counters discriminatory federal tax policy and to provide a higher level of equalitytj( xrñ for sax spouses an partners who work for the city and county of san francisco. i'd like to thank cosponsors, campos and wiener.
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current city employees who would likemzjpkn to add their spouse r is taken out of their paycheck. federal government views health coverage by same sex spouses and domestidomestic -- to be taxable income. therefore they're taxed more than other city employees simply because their spouse or partners of the same gender. this discrimination in our federal tax code has cost same-sex partners thousands of dollars each year. as of july 28 of this year the latest data we have, the number of city and county of san francisco active members with same-sex domestic partners total over 350. san francisco has always been a leader in supporting our lgbt community and i'm proud to stand with that group. following the example of other municipalities such as cambridge, massachusetts and private employers such as google in the bay area who have shown leadership on this issue and
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stood with our lgbt community ensure that same sex domestic partners will not be burdened with these taxes anymore this is an issue ofuqjxp equal. additional tax is one of the many results of the -- marriage act in congress. domestic partners are denied federal protection offered to other couples such as immigrant rights, social security survival benefits and ability to file joint tax returns. this additional tax on same sex domestic partners adds another sting to doma. these next few weeks will be significant forjíñ the lgbt community and those who stand with them as the supreme court will decide whether to -- proposition 8 perry case and various doma cases however i don't believe we should stand still while this discrimination continues. i look forward to working with everyone on the board to the
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rest i submit. >> clerk calvillo: thank you. supervisor chu. >> supervisor chu: thank you very much. i have an empirrative item later on and i want to speak to it. it is a purely commendatory item. i am joined by supervisor elsbernd in sponsoring this. i simply want to recognize the grand reopening of the sunset rec center in my district located in the the heart of the sunset district and is actually our own full scale rec center that is available. we have many playgrounds, play fields, but we don't necessarily have a rec center so this one has been under construction foru the last two years. it was part of the 2008 clean that the voters approved and is a 14 million dollar project that has come in on budget. with that improvement we see 18,000 square foot of gym space reopening with seismic improvements, ada improvements, something that is sorely missed in our district having a recreation space for all families. today i simple where want to recognize the grand reopening and thank all the people who
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really helped to5ljd make this possible, not only recreation staff, but also dpw, the arts commission and of course the your parks. thank you. >> clerk calvillo: thank you, supervisor chu. supervisor kim. >> supervisor kim: thank you. i actually just want to take a moment to share some words about howard wallace as well. and i want to really appreciate supervisor campos for just the beautiful story and talking about his life and his experience. he's someone i know that many of us will really sorely miss. howard was someone that i'm really grateful that i got an opportunity to get to know. and i met him actually in 2005, when several of us here in this room were involved in the san francisco people's organization. i just have an incredible level of respect for howard. he was always incredibly
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reasonable, but undeniably and staunchly progressive. he was vocal on many different issues but always open-minded. most permanen importantly he ben building coalition that was genuine and he was dedicated to that and he also loved to share stories. stories. i think many of us, with him at6 had to share, which are so important near us to continue to remember as we continue to build upon that work, and upon the city. and i know he loved being the moral compass at labor. he really believed that he was the left voice in labor. he always talked about the importancezp.÷ of labor and creg coalitions of communities of color. sometimes, when i would walk into some rooms, when running for elections, he was sometimes the only friendly face. and i still remember -- and i really, really, really miss howard. i'm